<p>Is anyone else with a current student there aware of this? My student's friend is an RA who was caught up in this outrageous behavior by Northeastern. </p>
<p>The college fired exactly half the RA staff on a trumped up charge last week (not complying exactly with one of the nearly 100 duties outlined in the RA contract), with no warning, no offer of probation in order to improve performance (as outlined in the contract). They were all told they had three days to appeal the termination, and if the appeal is denied, they are forced to vacate the dorms within 24 hours. With NO WHERE TO LIVE. They are LITERALLY BEING THROWN OUT IN THE STREET!!</p>
<p>These are good kids, who take their RA responsibilities seriously, and give an enormous amount to the campus. They are themselves students, with finals approaching, and they have no where to live! It was exactly 50% of the staff; the supposition is that they did it this way to avoid breaking campus regulations requiring each dorm to be 50% staffed at all times. So the remaining 50% are being run ragged as their ranks have plummeted. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the dorm residents are left with half the remaining staff trying to cover the needs of thousands of students. With finals a mere 6 weeks away. The safety and well-being of the entire campus is at risk. It's really unbelievable to me that Northeastern can get away with this.</p>
<p>Yes, I have been in communications with one of the RAs and I have seen the written RA agreement. The 50% were all fired at the same time, and all were given the same exact reason for termination (non-compliance with one of the duties outlined in the agreement - it seems to be the same non-complied-with duty for everyone). So far, those that have appealed have had their appeals denied. They are being told to remove their belongings from their dorm rooms and return their keys, or campus security will do it for them. These RAs are often the most involved in the Northeastern community; they have gotten perfectly fine RA evaluations up to this point, and even though the contract mentions probation as a possiblity if duties are subpar, none of them were placed on probation, just fired. I know it sounds like there must be more to the story, but it actually is as I’ve written :(</p>
<p>Sounds fishy to me. Are you sure? This seems like something that would have made the local paper, but I don’t find anything on it.</p>
<p>If true, perhaps the RAs can appeal to someone in the community with a large property where they could all crash for 6 weeks and/or someone that owns a storage facility they could share to hold their stuff.</p>
<p>The remaining 50% of RA’s could consider resigning due to the increased work load and join their brethren.</p>
<p>It’s not fair for the remaining 50% to have to work twice as hard right before finals either.</p>
<p>I live in Boston and this story has not been front in center on the evening news or in the Boston Globe … it seems we’re missing part of the story in this thread.</p>
<p>OP - do you have a link to a story in the Globe … or the Northeastern newspaper … or something else?</p>
<p>The firings happened last Thursday. Why would it make the papers unless one of the RAs went to the press (which apparently they haven’t; they are all working on their appeals and are in complete panic mode)?</p>
<p>I believe the issue was that all those fired (miraculously, exactly 50%) were accused of missing buildings while on night duty rounds. The contract does allow for immediate termination for any reason, but it also has pages and pages of duties outlined, and does have procedures for probation, etc. which were apparently bypassed. Anyway, wouldn’t you think Northeastern would be a bit less heartless no matter HOW egregious the violations?</p>
<p>The remaining 50% are supportive of their brethren and are in panic as well, but unless they all collectively quit, a handful is unlikely to voluntarily quit and place themselves in the same position.</p>
<p>There is no mention of this in the Northeastern student newspaper on line. a google search produces only the OP’s report. Corroboration needed to be believed. In this era of social media it would likely be all over the place.</p>
<p>If this a true story, call the local news stations who will be glad to investigate and report on it. It has not even made the news. I am sure a local news outlet would love to cover it. Send the letter received by the RAs to the news desks and see what happens.</p>
<p>I’d like to know more about this story. It is hard to believe that any University would be this heartless - particularly since the RAs are typically model students. If my beloved RA had been thrown out on the street my freshman year, our dorm would have been carrying torches on the street.</p>
<p>My gut tells me that if this story were true, it WOULD be in the local papers. School politics is big news in a school-centric city such as Boston. A bunch of RAs being “tossed out on the street” would be even bigger news.</p>
<p>Well, the story is true, I don’t know why it isn’t in the papers. I have known this RA personally for years – amazing kid. I think the kids all feel like they are fighting for their jobs and don’t want to **** off the administration, so they are dutifully submitting their appeals and going through the university channels as instructed.</p>
<p>How does one contact a news station or newspaper with a story like this? (I am actually asking this, not being facetious; I don’t know anything about journalism).</p>
<p>Well, you could start by looking at the Boston network affiliates websites , but something tells me they will want more proof than just an endorsement of a parent who has known one of the RAs for years…I think there must be more to this than what you are being told , if there is any truth to this story</p>
<p>I agree. Maybe the former RA that you know may not have told you the complete story, but I find it VERY difficult to believe that there would be no coverage of this, whatsoever, or that at least one RA would come forward to the media not only to make things right(in their opinion) but
to possibly get something done about the situation.</p>
<p>Well, you said there were some who had already had their appeals denied. Perhaps one or some of them would be willing to go to the press. They’ve already lost their job, their appeal and their room.</p>
<p>Also, YOU could go to the press.</p>
<p>As for not knowing how to do this, you could just go to the website. There’s probably an email or a phone number of someone who could point you in the right direction. Maybe the press will bring some help for these kids.</p>
<p>Yikes - I surrender. I appreciate and understand the skepticism, but I only came on here looking for some ideas/help for our friend. Sort of sorry I asked. </p>
<p>I understand that you all think I may only have some of the story, but I’m not sure what motive I (or my kid’s RA friend) have to embellish or twist the facts (thank you illogic for your clarification, I did mess that up). Because something hasn’t made the news, it is not true?!</p>
<p>Since we will know by the end of the day today whether our friend’s appeal is denied, my kid may or may not be helping with a move tomorrow - to where is TBD. So that’s where I’m coming from; just trying to help a friend.</p>
<p>Aside from the snarky flavor of post 13, i agree with you and I had no intention of contacting the press myself; it was an option I thought I could pass along to our friend, so I thank the posters who suggested that. The problem is these RAs are in a Catch-22 – they don’t want to **** off the college by crying to the press before they know if their appeals are denied, but they won’t have any recourse once the verdict is handed down. By then they are expected to be out of their rooms, so even if they go to the press at that point, that may not do them any good, but I agree with you cromette that at that point they have nothing to lose.</p>
<p>Thank you to those who offered concrete suggestions.</p>